Tell the Truth by Robert Velarosa - HTML preview

Part II:  The Outer World

This Moment

Of all the topics I'm covering in this book, I'd have to predict that this is the one that's going to be least accepted by the majority of readers.  However, this book wouldn't be complete without this topic, and I'm obliged to include it for the sake of completeness.  What I'm about to present to you here may be a difficult concept to grasp.  It's actually not really a concept, so much as it is the truth about the way things are.  Time is a concept, this moment isn't.  We all live by time, and we all swear by time.  Wrist watch companies are getting rich because of it, and we seem to live as if we can't live without it.

Time is a man-made concept.  In reality, there is no such thing as time.  It appears as if it exists because when we wake up we say the sun is over the eastern horizon, and at dinner time we say the sun is over the western horizon.  So it seems as if the two events are separated by several units we call hours and minutes.  What if I were to tell you it's all an illusion?  When the sun appeared over the eastern horizon, you were experiencing it in this moment.  When the sun appeared over the western horizon, you also experienced it in this moment.  This moment is all there is.  Have you ever lived in the past?  Have you ever lived in the future?  You can't live in either one, so how can they exist?  It's really a question of living, and the fact is that you can only live in the present moment.

Let's go back to our thoughts in this moment.  If you pay close attention to your thoughts, you will undoubtedly realize they all have to do with either the past, or the future.  If you try to think about the present moment, you'll find that you can't do it.  It can't be done.  The thoughts stop because there is nothing to think about.  You may say that you are able to think about a table in this present moment, but are you really?  It would be more accurate to say that your thoughts about the table are all about your experiences with tables.  Your thoughts might say the table is hard, heavy, and flat, but these thoughts are all based on what you already know about tables.  To fully experience the table as it is in this moment, you must drop every belief you have about tables.  Otherwise, you're just living in the past, which is really just a figure of speech.  Try to think about any object right now, and see if you can think about it without knowing anything about it.  It really can't be done because no matter what, you'll always describe the object based on your experiences with the object.  The brain is simply not able to think about the present moment.

Have you noticed how the older you get, the faster time seems to flow?  This of course is also just an illusion, but it serves to make a point.  Time is relative.  When you were two years old, you had not lived very long yet.  So when you got that five minute time out, it seemed like forever.  When you started school at the age of four, sitting in class for an hour seemed like forever because compared with four years, an hour is a relatively long time.  When you turn twenty, an hour doesn't seem to be as long as it used to because compared to twenty years, an hour is actually just a puny fraction of it.  I'm thirty six years old, and a week seems to fly by so fast, I can barely remember what I did in that period.

Now I'd like for you to try a little experiment using your imagination.  Even if you don't think you have much of an imagination, this shouldn't be hard to do.  Get in a comfortable position and imagine that the entire universe has disappeared, but you haven't.  You still exist, but only as pure consciousness.  You no longer have a body.  The only thing you are aware of is your own existence.  Since you don't have a body, you don't have a brain either, so you aren't able to think about anything.  You are pure consciousness and nothing else.  You are only aware of yourself. Now I ask you, "where is time?"  There is no motion and there is no brain activity, but there is existence.  Can time exist?

You might respond by saying that in reality there is a universe and that you do have the ability to think, so time must exist.  And I would respond by saying that that is only a relative truth because it depends on conditions that may only be temporary.  We only have ideas about where the universe came from and where it's going.  Even your own body is only temporary.  The only thing you can be certain of is existence.  You're here and I'm here.  We certainly exist and that is the only absolute truth you can be certain of, no matter what happens.  So time is absolutely dependent on certain conditions which must be met, and that makes it a relative truth.

Einstein's theory of relativity also depends on the existence of the universe and a brain to be aware of this existence.  Einstein realized that time is relative, and he came up with a theory to explain it.  In a nutshell, what he discovered was that the faster an object travels through space, the slower time flows for that object.  The object can also be a person.  So if you were to travel through outer space at a great speed like half the speed of light, your watch would tick more slowly than that of someone standing still on Earth.  However, this doesn't tell me that time exists.  It only tells me that it isn't an absolute entity and absolute truth is the only thing I'm interested in.

Of course, there are moments when time will be of use to you, such as scheduling a meeting, or making a doctor's appointment.  The concept of time definitely has its uses and we really can't live without it.  However, it must be used as an instrument to help us live in a society that depends on time in order to function properly.  It's also a mistake to think that time actually exists.  The truth is it only exists in the mind.

It's Not Yours

The Earth is rich in natural resources like water, wood, metals and oil to name a few.  Everything that is produced and sold comes from a natural resource.  Everything comes from the Earth.  We don't make something out of nothing.  The only thing that can be sold, that doesn't come from a natural resource, is information.  Take this book for instance.  The paper and ink (if this is a paper book) came from the earth, but the information came from me.  However, since I came from the Earth, you could say the information came indirectly from the Earth, but then we'd be getting into technicalities, which really aren't worth talking about.  What is worth talking about is how we have this crazy idea that we can actually own something.  My way of viewing the world is this; instead of owning things, we are borrowing and utilizing them during our short habitation on the Earth.

This is the way I see it.  To extract a natural resource from the Earth, you must have access to land.  If a mining company is interested in extracting gold for instance, they would need access to land that is abundant in gold.  So they mine the gold, sell it to the jewellers, and the jewellers turn it into rings and necklaces that they can sell to you.  So at this point, money and a product have been exchanged and everyone is happy, but here's my problem with this scenario.  Land really can't be owned by anyone.  People 'own' land because a government allowed them to. However, it was centuries ago that a government or a regime claimed the land, settled on it, and called it a nation.  It's then up to the government to sell the land to the citizens of its country so that they may do as they wish with it.  Keep in mind, there is no land on this Earth that can be used by anyone without someone's permission, whether it is the government, or a citizen of the country.  In my opinion, this is bullying.  Anyone who steps foot on a piece of land and claims it as their own is a bully.

Take the Native Americans for instance.  They had no concept of owning land before the Europeans arrived in North America.  To the Natives, the land was to be used for the sole purpose of survival, not for personal gain.  Then the Europeans came along and fought them for it.  I'm not saying we should live like the Natives did, but I am saying it is technically impossible to own land.  For example, the property I live on isn't really mine, even though I have papers that say otherwise.  Instead, I'm the caretaker of this small piece of land and I will utilize it to provide shelter for my family until I pass away.

Every document that indicates title and ownership is part of the bully system.  Individually, we can't even fight it, and the government relies on the fact that we'll never join together to change the way we see ownership of land.  No pep rally would ever change this.  It would take an entire nation dead set on changing the rules.  Fortunately for the government, the peop le are happy with the way things are, and this is due to the fact that the people don't think about the implications of such an arrangement.

Now, if land can only be owned due to the bully system, how can we truly say that a product that came from the land is really ours?  At some point in time, someone stole the land that helped produce the car you're driving, or the television that entertains you at night.  Everything we own are stolen goods.  Mind you, I'm not saying to give all of your possessions away because they aren't rightfully yours.  The society we live in demands that we buy its products for our own survival.  We need a car to take us to work everyday.  We need a house to shelter us from the elements.  We need a table and chairs upon which we will eat our food.  We don't really have a choice in the matter because it's a matter of survival.

I'm not saying we have to change the way things work in our society.  I'm not saying we should dump the capitalist system and convert to a socialist system or a monarchy.  What I'm saying is it would be a lie to think you can own anything.  It's a simple matter of how to view the world and everything in it.  It only appears as if we own things, but in reality we can't own anything.

But Wait There's More…

I've never had a problem with food, and I've always liked almost everything.  I love trying new foods because it keeps things interesting.  However, when I was a kid, I really didn't like tomato sauce all that much.  Of course, this was a problem because growing up in an Italian family you tend to eat a lot of pasta, which of course includes tomato sauce.  I remember one afternoon after school, I was watching television and a commercial came on for a jarred tomato sauce.  The advertisers made it look yummy, nice and thick, beautiful color, and all of a sudden, I couldn't wait for dinner to be served.  Since then, I've always loved tomato sauce, and to this day, I enjoy making my own in different ways using fresh ingredients.  This is the power that commercials have over us, but they have this power because of one tiny reason.  We let them.

Recently, I saw a commercial for a chicken dish being offered by a fast food chain.  In the commercial, a patron cut into the chicken and picked it up with their fork, but something just didn't look right.  Thanks to technology, I was able to rewind and play it again.  First of all I noticed that after the chicken was cut, you could see the grain of the meat going in the direction that the knife was pointing.  I love eating meat and I know what it looks like when it's cut.  I went back again and noticed that there was actually a sliver of a line where the knife was about to slice in.  That chicken was already cut!  Actually by the looks of it, it was actually torn because there is no other way that it could have looked that way if cut by a knife.  Advertisers know how to make food look appealing no matter what it is and that's how they get you.  Your subconscious tells you it looks great and so you have to go out and pay good money for it.  What my brain asks when I see that is, "What else is this company hiding if they're lying on their commercials?"

So, for investigational purposes, I decided to try it out just to see if the chicken lived up to the commercials.  When I received my order, the plastic dish was no where near as full as the one I saw on TV.  Not only that, but they looked like sad little pieces of chicken and they didn't taste as good as they made it sound in the commercials.  What I don't understand is why people continue to go back for more when the restaurant is obviously being deceitful.  The same could be said of any fast food chain.  They always make their food look great.  Then when you go eat at one of their restaurants, the food doesn't even resemble what you saw on TV.  The point is, if they showed you food that looks exactly the way it really is served, it wouldn't look appealing and you probably wouldn't go give them your money.

People in the advertising industry are experts in human nature.  They know what makes us tick and they know how to appeal to our senses.  Advertisers don't create their ads because they guess they will work.  They create ads they know will work because they have access to the

information that tells them exactly what you want and how you want it.  And of course they have this information because you gave it to them freely when they called you up at 7:30 at night asking for your opinion on hand soap.  Then of course they turned around and used that information to sell you their soap.  Clever!  No?

There is of course one very important implication that stems from all of this.  I'm talking about the fact that advertisers believe we are stupid.  Every time they advertise, they are indirectly saying, "Hey!  We think you're stupid and we're going to use tricks and special effects to sell you a product you probably don't even need."  So how can they sell you something you don't need?  Well, in reality, they aren't selling a product.  Instead, they're selling you a feeling. Remember, we are emotional beings, and if a commercial makes us feel like we would be happier with the product, we will go out and buy it.  The advertisers are banking on this.

There's a commercial that makes me cringe every time I see it.  It's for a steak house, and the whole commercial is about having a good time, with waiters and bartenders who are friendly and have a smile pasted on their faces like bad makeup.  They show you the perfectly charred steak on the plate as the potatoes and mushrooms fall next to the steak in slow motion.  I have to say, the lighting effects are awesome too with all of the strobe light effects they use.  I have been to this steak house on numerous occasions in the past, and I can assure you there was no feeling that even remotely resembled what the advertisers were conveying on TV.  Instead of a pasted smile, I got that, "I don't want to be here" look, and the steak really wasn't all that great.  Would I go again?  Only if I'm dragged there kicking while screaming, "Bloody murder!"

To be honest with you, I would like nothing more than to see the advertising industry be honest with us.  However I don't think it'll ever happen unless we wake up and notice every trick they use, and believe me, they're all tricks.  Do you ever see a sign that says, 'Used Cars' anymore? Now it's, 'Pre-Owned Vehicles.'  Does the burger in the picture ever look like the one on your tray?  When you bought that brand new flat panel TV, did it really make you happier like they said it would, and how long did that happiness last?  Also pay very close attention to the words they use, like, "Recommended by experts."  Well, exactly how many experts recommended the product?  Two?  Three maybe?  Out of one hundred!  But they aren't lying.  It is true that a couple of experts believe in the product.  It's up to you to believe that all of them recommend it. Do you see where I'm going with this?  Read between the lines!

I have to admit though, my favorite of all ads are the infomercials.  They are hysterical.  First they show you a great product you can't live without, they tell you how happy it's going to make you and how it'll improve your life.  Then they show you the price, and by then you're thinking, "Do I really need a knife that can cut through a shoe?"  "But wait there's more… if you call right now, we'll give you the knife set for half the regular price, and we'll throw in a clever that can chop a brick in half."  Now you're thinking, "Wow!  I can't pass this up."  It sounds like a great deal, doesn't it?

Well, I'd like to point out a few things.  First of all, the real price was always the half off price, and they have always included the clever in that price.  It's the same old trick they all use to make it sound like you're getting a great deal, and they know how we love deals.  Secondly, exactly how good do you think a knife set is that costs $59.99?  Go to an upscale kitchen supply store and check out the price of a top notch Japanese knife.  That one knife will cost you well over $100.  Thirdly, infomercials are expensive.  So how much value could there really be in the product when the company has to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to show off on TV?  I can guarantee that the product they are selling is incredibly cheaply made, because that's the only way they can make any money off of it.  And finally, all infomercials follow the exact same format, and they do this because... it works!  The sad thing is that these companies are making boat loads of cash, so can you imagine just how many millions of people it takes to make the product profitable?  It's more than I care to think about.

Then there's email spam.  Let me ask you something.  If someone broke into your home, looked through your underwear drawer, made a ham sandwich, and left a full color ad of a sex enhancing drug, would you buy it from them?  If not, then why in the world would you buy anything from spammers?  They too have invaded your privacy by sending you unsolicited emails.  Spammers are the worst of the bunch, but for some strange reason that is completely beyond me, people continue to give them business, even though everyone says they hate them. Obviously, people are buying their products or the spammers wouldn't have survived for as long as they have.

Another powerful tool companies use to sell you their products is their salespeople.  Never underestimate the power of a good salesperson.  A good salesperson can sell sand to someone who lives in the desert.  They know how to make you feel good and they use charm and good humor to sell you their stuff.  My advice to you here is to really be careful what you buy from them.  Most of them aren't bad intentioned people, and they could be selling a great product or service.  However, the question you have to ask yourself is, "Do I really need this product or service?"  Unless it's something you know you need and you really have to have it, tell them you need to sleep on it and you'll call them the next day.  If they become pushy, tell them to get lost. It's your money and you have every right to make smart buying choices for yourself and your family.

Here is something to think about before we end this chapter.  We tend to be untrusting of other people and we're always hyper vigilant because you never know another person's intentions. Yet we put our complete faith in a large corporation whose only goal is to take your money no matter what it takes to get it.  This is saddening to me.  It really is.  It's almost as if we're living our lives backwards or the opposite of how we should be living.  I just think there is something horribly wrong with this picture.  Aren't we capable of more than that?

The whole point of this chapter is to make you realize just how much advertising affects our lives.  I'm hoping it will be a wake up call for you, if needed.  Look for the tricks in the commercials.  Be aware of how they make you feel.  Then put your emotions aside and decide if it really is a product or service you want or need.

By Crook

I received a call one night from a man who claimed that I had won a draw from a contest that I had entered at a grocery store.  At the time, I had no recollection of the incident.  Anyway, apparently I had won either a thousand dollars, a Caribbean cruise, a trip to Orlando, Florida, or a big screen television.  He couldn't tell me at which store I had cast the ballot.  He also asked me if I was over the age of 30 and whether I was married or single.  That was the giveaway for me.  They are obviously trying to sell me something.  Then he wanted me to drive into another city and claim my prize during the evening of the next day.  What I don't understand is how people fall for this stuff.  They get people in there by deceit and people actually buy whatever it is they're selling.  This sort of thing is real and it obviously works, or they wouldn't be in business.  I'm not saying the prizes aren't real, so they aren't completely lying.  However, there is a catch.  In order to claim the prize, you must buy whatever it is they're selling or you at least have to attend their seminar where they'll give you the hard sell.

Companies like these exist all over the country, and they are making billions of dollars in sales. To say the absolute least, this is extremely alarming to me.  It's alarming because it means there are millions of people out there who are willing to give these companies business.  What does this say about our society?  If someone came up to you on the street and offered you a thousand dollars, but you had to meet them at their home late at night to get it, would you agree to it?  You would have to be crazy to do it.  Of course, we give more credibility to the big company with the 'raffle draw' than to someone on the street, but essentially it's the same thing.  Remember this: no one, and I mean no one, will ever give you something for nothing, unless it's a real raffle draw, I guess.  There's always a catch.  We can't keep these companies in business because  they're being deceitful.  Wouldn't you rather do business with a respectable and honest company?

My wife and I once had an experience with one of those time-share companies in our region. One night, I received a call from a man who represented a vacation resort.  He offered me fifty bucks in free gas just to come out for an informative presentation.  He gave me no clue as to what it was all about, but my wife and I knew what it was.  I told him no and that I wasn't interested.  He upped the ante to one hundred dollars in free gas.  I still refused, but he was persistent.  The more I resisted, the bigger the pot grew, until he offered me two hundred dollars in free gas.  I quickly did the math and realized I'd be making at least seventy dollars an hour if I went, and that included the gas I would waste to get there and come back.  So I agreed to it.  I knew I wouldn't buy anything, but I thought it'd be good for a laugh.

So there we arrive at the resort and we're seated and told someone would meet with us shortly. After a few minutes, a really nice guy approached us and greeted us with all the formalities you would expect from a salesman.  I think his name was Frank, but I'm not quite sure, so we'll just call him Frank.  Frank led us into a large room filled with round tables, and at each table was a couple and a salesperson.  Frank seated us at one of those tables and explained what it was they were offering.  He also told us that a prominent member was to give us a presentation in the room next door and that it would happen shortly.  When the time came, we were brought into this room and seated in front of a large screen.  They then played a video for us that explained why their resorts are so great and why we can't live without them.  That was the presentation. There was no spokesperson.  Apparently, he 'couldn't make it' that night, or so we were told. Frank then brought us into the resort area and showed off one of the rooms.  The rooms were very well appointed with all the amenities one would expect from a five star resort, and to be quite honest, my wife and I were impressed.

After the tour was over, we went back to the big room with the round tables and we were seated again.  The show was over.  Now it was time to talk turkey.  Frank laid out the numbers before us, and it wasn't unreasonable, but we couldn't afford it at the time.  So as protocol would have it, Frank called over his buddy, who we'll call Steve, to go over the financing options with us. So it became affordable.  Steve was even nice enough to show us pictures of celebrities who bought into such a wonderful deal.  At this point we asked the gentlemen to leave us for a moment to talk it over.  We talked and decided we didn't want it.  When they came back to the table, we told them we needed to think about it.  After all, you should never make a big buying decision without sleeping on it first.  Anyway, their response was that the offer was available only that night and that the price would increase should we decide to buy it the next day.  That's a high pressure sales tactic at its finest, and it's a dirty rotten thing to do.  We stuck to our guns and decided we would need to sleep on it, even if the price was going to increase by a few thousand dollars.  Of course, we weren't going to buy into it.  At the end of the night, we collected our free gas cards and went off on our merry way.

Do you see the tricks they use to sell you stuff?  They aren't lying about anything, so we can't call them liars, but they aren't being totally honest in the way they present themselves and in the way they sell their stuff, either.  There is a process to their sales pitch, and they follow that process with every single couple who walks into their building.  That's what they're trained to do.

Besides the gas money, I'm glad we went because I got a chance to see first hand how these people operate.  I just don't understand why anyone would want to give these people their hard- earned money.  The last time I checked, the middle class Canadian doesn't have a lot of money to burn.

I only have one more experience to share with you and then I'll leave you alone until the next chapter.  I find that examples are the best way to make my case clear in this matter, so here we go.

Again, I received a call, this time from a lady, who told me she represented a company that was doing free water testing in our area.  I wasn't sure if there was a catch to it, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to get our well water tested, so I agreed to it.  The lady told me she would call me back on the following weekend to set up a time for her guys to come out and test our water.  I discussed it with my wife and we came to the conclusion that it must be a water filtration company trying to sell its filters.

The following Saturday, the same lady called me again, this time to make sure we were going to be home that afternoon.  I told her we would be, and I asked her, "So what kind of water filters are you going to sell to us?"  She flat out denied that they were selling water filters, so I said,

"Sure, send them over."  An hour later a couple of young guys showed up at our door with a rather large steel briefcase, and we welcomed them in.  After the usual formalities, they got down to the water testing phase of the presentation, and believe me, it was a big presentation.

They showed us how gross our water was, even with the filter we were using.  Then they showed all the nice graphs and charts indicating the difference a good water filter could make.  While all of this was happening, I was just waiting for them to make their big move, the one where they pull out their catalogue and start talking business.  When they got to that point, I stopped them dead in their tracks.  "I was told you weren't going to try and sell us a water filter," I pointed out. They instantly realized what had happened and they became upset, but not with us.  They were upset because this wasn't the first time a potential customer had been deceived.  Apparently, they had told the company to be honest with the people and let them know exactly what they're selling, instead of using water testing as an excuse to enter people's homes.  Needless to say, they didn't make the sale, and when we do decide to get a good water filter, it won't be from them.

The world is full of crooks, and they're all out to get your hard-earned dollars.  The question is; are you going to give it to them, or are you going to make a stand and let them know that their way of doing business is deceitful and under handed?  Ultimately, the choice is yours.  After all, it's your money.

The Elusive

If there's one thing we can all agree on, it's the fact that we all want to be happy.  It's a basic desire and it means something different for everyone.  For some, to be happy means to live in a hot climate near the beach.  For others, happiness means spending time with the kids.  We all want it and we want it in the package we envision it comes in.  We all chase after it hoping we'll get as big a slice of it as possible.  However, is it possible we don't need to chase after it to get it?  What if we had it all along?  What if we never lost it?  What if I told you that you never needed anything outside of yourself in order to be happy?  What would you say to that?

Of course, there are varying degrees of happiness.  It can range from mild contentment to ecstatic joy.  If you're looking for the ecstatic joy end of the scale, I'm afraid to tell you that you're o nly going to suffer because you won't feel that way all the time.  It's human nature for our emotions to go on a daily roller coaster ride and we have to accept that as it is.  What we can do in the meantime is to not expect anything outside of us to bring us happiness.  When expectations aren't met, there is suffering.  There is great truth in this statement.  For instance, if you expect everyone to treat you nicely, and someone treats you rudely on your way to work, you're going to suffer because you made up a rule about how people must treat you.  You can't control what people do, so it would be wise to not count on others to bring you happiness.  It's a losing battle.

People seem to have the idea that happiness comes from the nice things we buy for ourselves. We see a commercial for a really nice luxury sedan, and the commercial tells us how the car will change our lives.  A lot of people buy into this sort of thing and they go out and buy the car thinking they'll be happier.  So you buy the car, but how long does it take before the high wears off?  One month?  Two, maybe?  Once you've gotten used to the car, it becomes just another item in your list of material possessions, and it loses its mystique.  So how many times do people have to repeat this cycle before they realize it's a pipe dream?  How many thousands of dollars do we each have to spend before deciding it's a losing battle?  I'm not saying it's wrong to buy a new car.  What I'm saying is that the car is never going to bring you the lasting happiness that you so desperately seek.

Our thinking is distorted.  It's not that material objects bring us happiness.  The truth is that we allow ourselves to be happy when we get them.  The happiness has always come from within.  It was never from the TV, or the car, or the new sofa set.  The happiness always came from within. Basically what happens is this.  Joe makes up a